Time to unite the country once again

While there has been nothing nice about the coronavirus pandemic that we have been dealing with since mid-March, at one point during this nightmare there was a glimmer of a silver lining.

Much as was the case with 9/11, for a moment it seemed like everyone was coming together. We were all in the same situation. We were all victims. There was no one to blame, and we all were going to do what we had to do to get through this. We were Americans, and Americans stick together when things get tough.

That didn't last very long.

I keep wondering if anything will ever happen to bring this country back together. It seems everything has the opposite effect. Every election, every news story, even this pandemic has managed to just drive the wedge between the two sides of the country deeper and deeper.

But here's what I find so interesting. So often there are two sides, the Democrats and the Republicans, the conservatives and the liberals. It seems like we all get lumped into those two categories, and it seems like many of us find it necessary to cement ourselves into one or the other.

It's interesting to me because I don't think the majority of people fit into those categories. While we're all at each others' throats, the truth is I think most of us fall somewhere in the middle, on a whole lot more common ground than we might want to admit.

Maybe it's time we stop siding with CNN or Fox News and we start paying attention to the issues. Why do we need a letter in front of our name? Having that capital R or capital D doesn't really mean anything. If you consider yourself a Democrat, do you really agree with everything the Democratic Party does? Same with those who identify as Republicans?

I realize that there are other parties out there as well, but let's be truthful, in most instances it's the Ds and the Rs that make the decisions.

But why do we let it be that way?

We have an election coming up in a couple of months. If we are still dealing with coronavirus by that time (and I hate to break it to you but I think we will be in some capacity), the way we vote might be different than in the past. In May, with ballots being automatically sent in the mail and more people than ever voting absentee, the turnout in counties that had elections was much higher than a typical May election. We could very well see the same thing in August and November.

So when you cast your vote this year, don't pay attention to the letter before the name. Do some research on the candidates. Figure out what they stand for. Vote the issues, not the party. Vote for your values and the things you believe in, not because your TV network of choice tells you what you should do.

It's time to close up the divide in this country.

And one more thing, just because someone doesn't share your values, just because they put importance in different things than they do, doesn't make them "stupid," or "idiots," or whatever other name you might want to throw out there. That's the great thing about being an American. We get to choose what we value. We have that freedom. Just because you value something different than someone else doesn't make you right anymore than it makes them wrong.

There are a lot of things that make the USA great. Freedom is certainly one of those things. But the most important thing is right there in the name. The United States of America.

It's time we become united once again.

Eric Young is the editor of the Huron Daily Tribune. He can be reached at eric.young@hearstnp.com.